Device for facilitating the closing of bags and of similar containers



Inventor ug- 6, 1940 F. scHFER DEVICE FOR FACILITATING THE CLOSING 0F BAGS AND 0F SIMILAR CONTAINERS Filed Nov. '26, 1937 Fig . more, may use a short piece of the said band in Patented Aug. 6, '1940- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Friedrich Schfer, St. Gallen, Switzerland Application November 26, 1937, Serial No. 176,619 In Switzerland June 12, 1936 4 claims.

My invention relates to improvements in closing devices for paper bags and similar containers in which the top edge of the bag, together with an individual stiiening band, vis clamped fast and folded up so as to seal the bag; and the objects of my improvement are, rst, to provide facilities for easily and readily sealing the bag in an effective way and manner; second, to design a type of closing device which is cheaply and readily manufactured in great quantities; and, third, to provide such a type of closing device which easily and readily may be bent into any form desired.

The use of flat metallic strips as stiffening inserts for the-purpose of clamping and holding fast the closing iiap of the topvedges of paper bags and similar containers is known. A serious disadvantage of these latter strips, however, is that they cannot be bent into any form desired.

I attain the objects set forth above by the device illustrated in a plurality of forms of invention in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig, l is a closing device in the form of a wire bent into Wave shape; Fig, 2, a closing device in the form of a stiffening strip comprising a paper-Wrapped Wire bent according to Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a cross-section of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a closing device according to Fig. 2, bent to an angle in the longitudinal sense; Fig. 5, a cross section of the latter ligure; Fig. 6, a closing device according to Figs, 4 and 5 fastly mounted upon a bag, in elevation; and Fig. '7, a cross-section of the latter.

In Fig. 1, w is a wave-shaped piece of wire bent in one plane. YThis Wire may serveas an individual marginal stiffening truss to be inserted into the closing iiap or top fold of a bag when folding and closing up the latter. The ends of the said truss may be bent back upon the closed bag as in the case of the marginal stiffening inserts in the form of metal strips known heretofore.

In Figs. 2 and 3 a zig-zag shaped wire a is Wrapped or enveloped in paper or any vother fibrous material c so as to form a closing strip, which at bis provided with a gummed sealing edge. This form of invention possesses the additional advantage that the gummed surface bis subdivided by means of the wire a, into a series of gummed portions, whereby a Wide and resistant stiilening band is obtained.

This latter band also may be wrapped up in the top fold or ply of the bag when folding up and closing the latter. The wrapped portion also, e'. g., may be given a zig-zag shape. One, further the way of a clamp or clip for sealing the throat of the bag in a manner well known.

The ends of a strap, moreover, may be fastened to the ends of the said stiffening band c for the purpose of enabling one to `carry the bag suspended from ones arm.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a` marginal stiffening strip e, comprising a Zig-zag shaped Wire f and a paper-envelope e` for the latter, the said strip at d being folded over or creasedv so as to form an angle-shaped structure.

After mounting the said strip ontoI the top edge of a bag, `both the strip and the edge may be bent, e. g., in S-shape.

As the top edge of the bag and the said stiftening strip after compression are fastly 'held together and thus hermetically seal the bag, the latter cannot be readily opened. For this latter purpose, however, the marginal stiffening strip on one side of the bag is extended beyond the wall of the bag, so that one may take a hold of the strip and pull it upward, upon which the bag is opened.

In the last vform of invention, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the marginal stiiening strip lc, angle-shaped in cross-section and comprising the wave-shaped wire insert z', is clamped fast to the top edge Z of the bag, and only may be removed by bending back and upwardly one of the legs of the stiifening strip.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent'is:

1. A device for facilitatingv the closing of bags and of similar containers comprising a piece of Wire bent closely in one plane in a wave or zig- Zag shape so as to form a band of some width and of a substantially greater length than the width f of the bag; the said band snugly embedded in the top fold of the bag upon folding down the latter, and the ends of the said band bent back upon the folded top portion of the bag.

' 2. A. device of the character described and according to claim 1, and in which the said band is wrapped in and secured to an envelope made of brous material.k

3. A device of the class described and according to claim 1, and in which the said band additionally is bent or creased lengthwise so as to form the legs of an angle; the latter put over the closed mouth of the bag, and the ends of the said band bent back upon the folded top portion of the bag.

4. A device of the class described comprising a piece of wire bent inone plane into close corrugations so as to form a band with parallel top and bottom and of a substantially greater length than the width of the bag, and an envelope made of fibrous material in which the said band is wrapped and to which the said band is glued; the whole being bent or creased lengthwise so as to form the two legs of an angle.

- FREDRICH SCHFER.. 

